Symphony of a Brave Star
by YamiGoddess
Summary: Of all the outcomes they thought of, all the conclusions they drew and agonized over and made peace with, they never thought dimensional displacement was going to be one of them. And who’s the idiot with the wings. VesperiaSymphonia crossover.
1. Over the Horizon

Title: Symphony of a Brave Star

Chapter 1: Over the Horizon

Rating: T

Pairings: Yuri/?, Lloyd/Sheena, others.

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Vesperia or Tales of Symphonia. I am writing for fun and not profit.

Summary: Of all the outcomes they thought of, all the conclusions they drew and agonized over and made peace with, they never thought dimensional displacement was going to be one of them. And who's the idiot with the wings. VesperiaSymphonia crossover.

AN: Well, what can I say? Vesperia is awesome. Symphonia is awesome. Why not cross them over? I know practically every other Tales game has been crossed with Symphonia, and the cliché has been beat into it with a big stick. But hey, it's kind of a must, right? Anyway, please enjoy. Oh, and spoilers. Those are in here too. Just to let you know.

-o-

They had so many ideas about what would happen during the final battle with the Adephagos. What if the power of the spirits didn't work and the world was destroyed? What if they didn't stop Duke and all human life disappeared from the face of Terca Lumireis? Hell, what if they actually managed to pull it off and save the planet? But in all of the outcomes, all of the conclusions they drew and agonized over and made peace with, they never once thought that dimensional displacement was going to be one of them.

So when Yuri found himself flying through the air, pulled along on waves of spirit energy up and over the horizon of the world, into the darkness of space as his world shrank to a pinprick, unnoticed, behind him, he was not amused. He was especially not amused when seconds later he found himself hurtling towards a giant tree with no way to stop himself.

It took all of two seconds for the small splotch of verdant in the periphery of his vision to become a looming, monolithic tree of epic proportions; and another two seconds for Yuri to brace himself before he went crashing into it with the force of a collapsing Baction Shrine.

He noted, for future reference, that he'd have to ask the Old Man if hurtling into an overgrown bush faster than Karol dropping into foetal position, was anything like having a few thousand tons of rock dropped on his head. If he lived that is. Because at the moment he was pretty sure he was going to die.

This, he thought, is just marvellous. Death by tree. Who would have thought stubborn Yuri Lowell would have had his life ended by a tree? He could already hear Rita laughing at him. What a great way to end the day. At least they destroyed the Adephagos before he was killed by the most non-violent organism in existence.

His moment of chagrined reflection was over as he crashed into the branches of the overgrown plant, snapping twigs with his arms and legs, while he used the rest of his body as a cushion against scraping bark and stiff branches. Because, really, who needed to walk, or grab things, or breath. Yuri didn't, that's for sure.

By the time he stopped falling- or breaking things with his head- his mind was reeling and he was aching from head to foot. He opened his eyes and, after wishing that he hadn't, peered around. The world was spinning and he was pretty sure he hadn't grown four new legs in the span of three minutes, but he couldn't be positive.

There was also a tremendous throbbing in his chest and he could barely catch his breath. Or at least, he thought the pain was coming from his chest. But again, he couldn't be sure. It might have been coming from his feet for he knew. He tried to move and establish his position amongst the tree branches and found that his right leg was thrown over a branch above his head, while his left was tucked up underneath his body at a painful angle.

Thankfully, he didn't think his neck was broken or he wouldn't have been able to turn his head and see that he was half leaning up against the trunk of the tree, with one arm over his chest and the other hanging downwards to the ground.

Wouldn't that have just been _fantastic_? He thought derisively as the world saw fit to right itself in front of his eyes. He managed to shift his body into a less unpleasant arrangement and let his leg drop from its high-flung position to alleviate the strain on his back, nearly sending himself careening out of his precarious perch as he did. With a hastily flung arm, he hooked a hand on a nearby branch and stabilized himself before he was able to complete his journey to the ground.

He grimaced in severe pain, and the world of consciousness threatened to collapse on him as he took a deep breath. He gently settled back against the trunk of the tree, letting his hand stay clamped on the branch he had snagged, just in case.

Yuri closed his eyes and clenched and unclenched his jaw, as a wave of pain from his chest throbbed, in tandem, to the sudden pounding headache that was busy cultivating at his temples. He groaned, and let his head slump back against the rough bark of the tree, using his free hand to slide tentatively over his sides and hissing slightly in pain as his fingers brushed over sensitive areas.

He didn't feel the sharp ridge of broken bone during his cautious investigation, so when he managed to pull his head forward and his shirt to the side, he was relieved to see only vivid red blotches covering his chest, instead of the dark black bruising of broken ribs that he was expecting. In morbid curiosity, he poked at the swelling flesh on his torso, watching and wincing as it went white under the pressure of his finger, before puffing out again in an angry red.

Yuri sighed and his arm fall back to his side as he wondered where he was. Halure? That would explain the tree. Well, not exactly. The tree in Halure was still in bloom this time of year- at least it was the last time they stopped to pick up supplies. Which was right before they headed to Tarqaron, so unless the Mayor had gone on a harvesting spree for Luluria petals, and stripped the entire blastia of blossoms, this wasn't the same tree.

And he was pretty sure that he had fallen up, not down, from Tarqaron, so he didn't think he was anywhere on Illycia. Or on Terca Lumireis for that matter. Because Terca Lumireis only had one massive tree, and he didn't think this was it.

And wasn't that just a disturbing thought?

Then he stiffened and craned his neck to check the branches nearest him. "Estelle?" he called, his voice thick with pain. "Rita? Boss? Judy?" even as he shifted around- gently, of course, because sharp movements were a bad idea- he couldn't see anything else in the tree with him. "Old Man? Repede?" but there was no answer to his calls, and for a brutal moment, he thought the worst must have happened.

A swell of dread clawed at him, feeling even worse than the pain radiating from his chest. He was about ready to start leaping through the branches of this overgrown tree to try and find them, but then common sense grabbed hold of him and beat him with a reality stick.

If the rest of his group had fallen with him, they would be in the same general area of the tree that he was. And when he looked up and saw that his trail of broken branches and crumpled leaves was the only one hacking up the interior of the tree, he decided there wasn't enough evidence to say that anyone was nearby, so there no use jumping to conclusions.

Of course, the thought that they might have missed the tree entirely, ate at him with relentless little bites. But he tried to ignore it to the best of his abilities.

Well, he wasn't going to find out anything up here, so he sighed and summoned up the effort to pull his right leg over to join his left, bracing himself for the climb down, as he wondered briefly how this was going to work seeing as how the next branch that looked strong enough to hold his weight was a good ten feet beneath him.

He patted the branch he was sitting on, estimating his grip on the rough bark. Should he let himself hang down, drop and hope that he didn't miss the branch below- risk becoming a big messy stain on the ground? He frowned and looked up into the canopy. Or should he try to climb up and around to find another way down? He grimaced, because the thought of scaling branches right now was very unappealing.

And as if the tree was tired of waiting for Yuri's decision, the bough he was resting on vanished. It wasn't just the one he was sitting on, either. The entire tree disappeared and he let out a sharp cry of surprise as he tumbled through the air, mulling over his terrible luck as the ground raced to meet him. He gritted his teeth when he realized that he was still too high above the ground, and that since he didn't have another tree to fall on, this landing was most like going to be the end of him. He wondered cynically, for a moment, if there was any chance of Duke catching him again.

Yuri was _really _getting tired of falling from buildings. Or floating towers. Or maybe it was just all tall objects in general.

He was desperately trying to think of a way not to die, when a heavy _something_ hit his side and latched onto him. Of course, the heavy grip just had to clamp over his ribs, so he started howling when a dull crunch and a sudden violent stabbing, sent a flood of agony sluicing through his blood, causing pinpricks of darkness to pepper his vision as his breath seized in his lungs.

In a moment of blind and disoriented panic, Yuri lashed out against whatever had a hold of him, snapping his elbows out and spearing them into whatever he could. He was rewarded with a yelp of shock and pain, as well as his third case of vertigo for the day, and then he was tumbling through the air again. His already muddled mind was thrown for a loop- or six- and when he slammed into the ground, after a fall that was infinitely shorter than he thought it was going to be, a tortured cry erupted from his throat.

The world flashed in front of his eyes, changing from the bright blue of the sky to the dark grey of gravel as he rolled end over end, skidding to a stop in a cloud of dust and dirt. Yuri flopped onto his back, teeth gritted together and eyes clamped shut as he tried desperately to breathe, tears of agonized pain coalescing in the corners of his eyes as the brutal piercing sensation clawed through his torso.

When no life giving breath was forthcoming, and tendrils of darkness started clawing at his consciousness, he started thrashing, arms flung out and head snapping back and forth as he clawed at his throat. He groaned a whine of anguished suffering as his sanity was eaten in a wave of torturous fire.

There was someone yelling nearby, but all that he could concentrate on was the pounding in his head. And then something was holding him to the ground, restraining his arms and legs, and Yuri struggled against it, and against the pressure squeezing his chest. And then the shouting was right near his head, and while he could barely distinguish the words from the heartbeat in his ears, he was able to make out a loud "Stop moving!" and a shrill "Do something, Lloyd!" before there was a sharp crack to the side of his skull.

And then everything went black.


	2. A Change of Scenery

AN: Oh my God! I'm sorry that I fail so epically at dialogue.

AN2: Pairings are being refurbished.

Thanks so much for the reviews! Please Enjoy!

Chapter 2: A Change of Scenery

-o-

Yuri awoke to muffled voices. He wasn't sure whether it was from the wall in front of his face when he opened his eyes, or the cotton that seemed to have been stuffed in his head. But all he could make of the words being spoken, at least from the tonal quality of the voices, was that one of the speakers was a woman, and the other was a man. He frowned and rolled his head away from the wall to survey the rest of the room, squinting his eyes closed for a moment because even the soft candlelight hurt his aching head.

He shifted, wincing as he did, and licked his dry lips, tasting dried blood and the bitter remnants of old Gel. Well, that explained why he was breathing easier, he thought as he ghosted his hand over his side, feeling stiff bandages as well as the tenderness of broken bones made numb by Gel medicines- Miracle by the aftertaste of it.

He hauled his head up, pulling back the dressings wound around his torso to check on the status of his injuries. Yuri could tell from the sharp edges running sporadically along his torso, that his ribs were still broken. But the dark blotches running along the visible portion of his chest were less severe than he expected. And the edges of a few bruises were yellowing in colour, like they had already had time to heal, or someone had started to heal him and then stopped half-way through a treatment.

He lifted his hand from his chest and pressed his fingers into his temples, closing his eyes again and letting his head fall back as he wondered how he was still alive. While his memory was fuzzy from the pain, he could tell that whatever had broken his already fractured ribs had also pushed the shards of bone into his lungs.

Or at least, that's what he thought had happened. The blood in his mouth, the sharp piercing pain, and the fact that he hadn't able to breathe at the time, seemed to support his conclusion. But he still didn't know for certain if that was the case. Or how he survived, for that matter. He had seen what happed to people with punctured lungs before when an unfortunate knight-in-training took a strike to the chest with the blunt edge of a regulation shield.

He hadn't been wearing his armour and died seconds before a healer arrived. It hadn't been pretty, and the healer had said he had suffocated on his own blood from where his ribs had perforated his lung. Yuri thought it was pretty much lethal. So why the hell was he still alive?

Well, maybe that's why Miracle Gels were named the way they were. Or maybe someone had really stopped healing him halfway through a spell, he reasoned as he peeled his eyelids back, letting his arm flop back onto the bed as he decided to appreciate his luck for once.

He angled his head back to examine the room. It was of plain design, with very few furnishings from what he could see. There was a small, scroll-worked table past the end of his bed, situated next to a pale green armchair and in front of a large curtained window. A slim band of sunlight flickered through a crack in the drapes.

The table – and the frame of his bed if he looked up a little – was designed in a way that vaguely reminded him of the furniture in the fake Mordio's house back in Zaphias. Of course, the furnishings Dedecchi had had were stained white, so he couldn't exactly say that it looked the same, but the overall feel of opulent wealth was a match.

He scowled as he thought about it. He never did end up catching that buck-toothed, miserable little thief. Maybe now that the Adephagos was destroyed, he could take the time and find the little rat and then stuff him in prison. Or maybe in a box. And then Yuri could thrown him into whatever dark corner Zagi had holed up in and let that be the end of it.

He sighed and pushed the thought away, appealing as it was. Yuri knew rationally that Zagi was dead – no one could survive a fall from Tarqaron without becoming a big nasty splat on a pile of rocks. Well, besides Yuri himself – whose spiteful luck liked to drop him into unpleasant situations, and then watch him flail about before rescuing him from whatever nasty fate he was in for. But the unpleasant feeling in the back of his skull that he always associated with Zagi hadn't exactly gone away when the freak had dropped off into the darkness of Tarqaron.

Yuri also knew it was just residual paranoia that kept him on alert. He couldn't help but feel that the rat had managed to survive, and was just biding his time until he could crap on Yuri's day. He gave an internal little chuckle. That was the perfect analogy for Zagi; a rat you thought you'd gotten rid until you found its foul little droppings decorating _everything_.

He turned his head to the side a little more and found a small night stand situated near the upper corner of the bed, a small blue box positioned on top with a sleepily burning candle dripping wax onto the polished wood from a candle holder on the wall.

On the other side of the table was a bed dressed in the same sheets as the ones he was currently covered with. The perfect, crisp folds and wrinkleless surface looked uncomfortable, even though he knew it was made of the same softness he could feel against his back. He rolled his head to look at the ceiling. The whole room looked pleasant enough, but it had an unlived-in atmosphere to it that Yuri didn't care for, and felt fake and polished like a shield over-varnished to hide imperfections.

This must be an inn, he thought dryly as he shifted cautiously, trying not to move too quickly but wanting to sit up. Because only inns had perfected the way of arranging their rooms into flawless display pieces. And, honestly, if he actually cared, he might just feel bad for overthrowing the balance of the perfect sterile atmosphere with his presence.

He snorted lightly, which wasn't a good idea, and cringed at the reminder of the state he was in. He didn't let himself roll back into a supine position, and only gritted his teeth as he levered himself up onto his elbows and then onto his hands, making sure to keep his chest and back straight so as to not curl over his ribs and potentially damage himself further.

And as soon as he was in a relatively vertical position, he immediately wanted to be on his feet. He never took to bed rest very well and he was already sick of lying down, even if it had only been five minutes since he had woken up. Then all the blood rushed from his head in a surge of vertigo, and the thought of just lying back and closing his eyes was suddenly very appealing. He managed, through monumental effort, to stay upright and keep his eyes open.

That, and the strangeness of there being a set of stairs to the right of his bed, distracted him from the wooziness in his head. Because, well, there was a staircase. Right there. And he couldn't seem to comprehend what it was there for. Then he wondered why he even cared, because it was just stairs, and obviously they were there to lead to somewhere else.

He paused. Then thought dully, somewhere else, where was somewhere else? Then he shook his head in disgust to get rid of the idiocy that seemed to have taken up residence in his brain. There must be something wrong with him if he was actually giving serious thought to this.

He wanted to check if he had a head injury in conjunction to his broken ribs, but that would require that he move. And shaking his head had agitated the whole dizzy stew, so he didn't think he could lift one of his arms from the bed to check without falling over. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his breathing.

After a moment, he heard the click of a doorknob being turned and the whisper of air rushing into the room. Yuri's eyes flicked open, and he immediately snapped his head in the direction of the sound, wincing as his neck gave a little creak. A white haired woman marched through the doorway, her strides quick and purposeful, and her shoulders back and straight. She wore an orange overcoat that fell to her knees, covering a simple white tunic and dark pants.

Yuri watched as she went directly to the windows and threw the curtains open, flooding the room in a brilliant wash of light. Yuri reeled for a moment, blinded by the sudden change of luminosity as twin stabs of pain shot through to the back of his head.

His slammed his eyes shut in an instant, but his head pounded nastily, regardless. He grumbled lightly in discomfort, and when he was able to crack his eyes open again, Yuri noticed a man with dark crimson hair watching him curiously from the doorway, his arms crossed over his purple clad chest. But then the man closed the door and Yuri's attention was turned back to the woman.

There was a stern expression on her young face that instantly reminded Yuri of his instructors back in Zaphias, and which just as instantly gave him the feeling of rebellion that he always caught around people of higher rank.

Not that he knew what rank she held – if she had one at all – but she held herself with a kind of confidence that leant an air of pride to her gait. And it was so similar to the condescending way all the nobles back in Zaphias held themselves with – the notable exception being Estelle, of course, who was about as arrogant as the Old Man was decent – that he was instantly on edge.

However, as soon as she saw him, her dour scowl morphed into a frown of concern and he had to re-evaluate his assessment as she hastened toward the bed he was lying in, the glow of healing artes already springing up around her fingers.

"You're awake," she stated, her voice feminine and smooth but with a firm business-like quality to it that reminded him of Kaufman. Yuri just gave her a look that said _well obviously_, but she either missed it or was purposely ignoring it. "Lloyd said you weren't breathing. You're lucky you're alive."

Lloyd? Yuri wondered, and then frowned when a hazy memory of someone shouting that name drifted into the forefront of his mind. However, he didn't get a chance to ask before the woman was pressing down on his shoulders to make him lay back on the bed, and was working on his chest, ignoring his groan of pain as he flopped back against the soft pillow-top mattress.

She unwound the stiff white bandages from around his ribs, carefully slipping the strips of cloth out from under his back so as not to jostle him further, before she was observing the purple bruising with a clinical eye that he had come to recognize as a sign of an experienced healer. She let the healing arte she had been charging flow over the surface of his skin.

Yuri grunted in surprise as the unfamiliar arte washed over him like cool water- nothing at all like either Estelle's, or even Flynn's, warm healing spells- and winced at the sharp crack of resetting bones, even as the spell eased the thudding pain all along his torso. He watched in interest as the dark bruising also lightened under the onslaught of healing magic, and was pleasantly surprised when his pounding headache slipped away.

That was interesting, because the only person he had ever known who was capable of healing multiple injuries at one time was Flynn, who even had Estelle beat when it came to light and curative spells. He gave a little internal wince at the thought of Flynn's Holy Lance attack; which was always a pain, no matter how many times he was faced against it.

Yuri took a deep breath, feeling grateful to be able to do so, and looked up from his chest to the woman. She looked absolutely exhausted- if the dark rings under her eyes were any indication- and her hands nearly shook with the effort of keeping her spell active.

He gently grabbed her wrist and moved it away from him, surprising the woman enough to break her concentration, and the spell dispersed from between her fingers, small dots of light shimmering away like dust glittering in the sun.

"Thanks," he rasped in a hoarse voice. The pain wasn't too bad. He didn't need to be completely healed right now. "But from the looks of it, you need some healing more than I do." She looked unimpressed and peeled his hand off her arm.

"Just be quiet and let me work," she retorted, the beginnings of a new spell already forming at her fingertips. Yuri scowled- he never liked taking orders- and shifted away from her. This woman didn't have the same endearing earnestness that Estelle had when she insisting on healing people, so she couldn't get away with ordering him around. Of course, since he was still in a bit of pain, he couldn't exactly move far. But it was the thought that counted, and she scowled as he did so.

From the pinched and aggravated look on her face, she looked about ready to snap at him. But he was saved from the imminent tirade by the door slamming open, banging against the wall and startling them both as two people tumbled into the room, collapsing in a heap while a blond girl in white stood behind them, looking in nervously. Yuri noticed absently that the man with the dark red hair and was gone.

Yuri sat up gingerly and the woman turned to the disturbance, a semi-murderous look on her face as she stalked over to the pile of bodies. The two figures scrambled to right themselves and were revealed to be two young men. One was dressed in a blue shirt and short-legged blue overalls, his cap of white hair hanging past his chin. While, the other wore a long-sleeved red jacket, dark pants and suspenders, his dark brown hair twisting up in a windswept mess of spikes.

The one in red started waving his arms around, a hurried explanation spewing from his lips that was less coherent than Raven's bewildered babblings after he had seen Judith naked at Yumanju. Yuri just rolled his eyes and watched.

"Genis! Lloyd! What have I told you about interrupting me when I'm with a patient?" The woman snapped, cutting off the one in red and planting her fists on her hips as she tapped her foot on the ground. Yuri had to bite his lip. Genis? Really? Someone was actually cruel enough to give his kid a name that was one spelling mistake away from making him a social pariah?

He didn't know why, but Yuri had a feeling that whichever of these kids was named that, was going to be more fun to mess with than Karol during his neurotic fits of paranoia whenever his internal bug radar went off.

Yuri chuckled silently to himself as the little one – who Yuri also assumed to be somehow related to the healer standing next to him, judging from the colour of his hair – waved his hands in apparent appeasement.

"Regal wanted us to come tell you that dinner's ready. And Sheena's awake up and asking for you." He would have been more convincing if he hadn't been sneaking peeks at Yuri as he was talking. But at least he was trying to be inconspicuous. The kid in red was staring at Yuri with such blatant curiosity that it was almost unnerving. Yuri rolled his eyes.

Then the little kid added sheepishly, after looking over his shoulder to the blond girl in the doorway. "And Colette's awake too, so we thought you wanted to know," he pointed at her as if it wasn't obvious there was another person standing there. The girl, who had been watching with an anxious look on her face, was suddenly full of smiles.

"Hi, Professor," she chirped, standing up on the balls of her feet and waving. Ah, a professor, well that explained why he was so on edge. Of all the teachers he knew, the only ones that didn't act like their higher education somehow made them the paragons of modern society, while everyone else was indiscriminate filth, were the ones from the Lower quarter; who taught at run down schools and lived like dirt in order to offer up their knowledge to the poor kids of the district.

The ones imported from Aspio to teach at Zaphias' prestigious academies were all arrogant snots, and Yuri always wanted to punch them in the face whenever he was near them. Well, only the men; Yuri had retained enough knightly instinct – and moral integrity – to feel that hitting women in the face was wrong.

Except perhaps Sodia. Yuri didn't think he would mind hitting Sodia. But, she had stabbed him in the stomach. And he had nearly died from the fall from Zaude. So maybe he was a bit biased in that respect.

He was suddenly glad that Rita wasn't like the rest of the head-cases that used to live in Aspio. Not that she wasn't a bit of a head-case herself, but at least her special brand of crazy was easier to deal with. And she took the time to explain what the hell she was talking about if they didn't get it. Granted, she usually acted put-upon whenever she had to, but Yuri knew she liked to share her knowledge, and that she had a good heart underneath all the strange.

And sometimes Karol just asked dumb questions, so he couldn't blame her for blowing up from time to time.

He wondered if this Professor was going to be a snob or not. But when the girl – Colette, was it? – spoke up, the healer strode towards her and instantly checked her temperature, asking in a soft voice if she was alright, and she seemed to be too much like Estelle to be like the snobs of Aspio. Hey, Yuri thought as he looked at the two kids, maybe these two are just the Karols to the woman's Rita.

The girl bobbed her head and gave a nervous little giggle as she did. "Oh, yes, I'm fine, Professor. Sorry for causing so much trouble."

The healer nodded. "Good," then immediately scolded, "And don't ever use that technique again! How many times do I have to tell you how dangerous it is before you'll actually listen to me?" and Yuri was a little startled at the abrupt change in demeanour, and the sudden ringing reprimand.

Colette looked down with a quick, shame-faced, "I'm sorry," as the boy in red leapt to her defence.

"Oh, come on, Professor. She saved this guy's life. You can't get mad at her," he argued, crossing his arms over his chest with a frown.

"Of course I can. I've told her time and time again not to use that technique. You know what would've happened if either Sheena or I hadn't been there to heal her. That was completely irresponsible of both of you," she scolded.

"But you knew where we were. Or, _I_ knew where we were, anyway. And I wouldn't let anything bad happen to Colette, you know that." The kid in red looked affronted that the healer would suggest anything but. "Besides, you told me that Colette could last for an hour after using Sacrifice. And this guy was almost dead. What did you want us to do? Just wait and hope you got there in time?"

The woman scowled and Colette just watched, her mouth pursed in a nervous line and her brows scrunched together and raised high above her big eyes. She had her hands clasped in front of her and Yuri wondered why she wasn't angry that they were talking about her as if she couldn't hear them. _He_ certainly didn't appreciate the fact that they were squabbling about him as if he wasn't in the room. But maybe that was just him.

"No, of course not," the woman sighed, the look on her face shifting into something resembling resigned, sour defeat. Yuri had a feeling she was a person accustomed to winning arguments. "But I told you that she could survive for an hour at _best_. She could have easily –" Then she cut herself off and cast a side long glance in Yuri's direction.

She watched him for a moment with a flat, heavy lidded stare that made him think she was trying to dissect him into tiny bits, before she looked back to the taller kid, a moment of awkward silence stretching out over the room. Then she opened her mouth, presumably start arguing again, so Yuri decided to speak up.

"Sacrifice?" he asked dryly. Generally, people who were sacrificed for one reason or another usually stayed, well, sacrificed. And Collette looked healthy enough, if not a little tired.

The three kids snapped their attention to Yuri immediately, looking at him like he was some kind of strange, human-shaped monster – like those Gentleman creatures that freaked Karol out. The woman closed her mouth and turned to face him fully.

"What?" he bit out after a few long moments had passed in uncomfortable quiet. The kid in red recovered first from whatever silence inducing effect Yuri seemed to have, and a curious frown pulled at his mouth.

"I thought all the angels are supposed to be on Derris Kharlan waiting for it to leave. Why are you here? And why can't you fly?" were his direct questions and Yuri frowned as well. What? Angels? Like the people with the halos and the feathers? Stay on track, people. One conversation at a time.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he intoned, shuffling back until he could lean against the head-board of his bed. The muscles of his chest were still stiff and when he moved, a dull ache thumped lightly at his sides causing him to grumble. "And of course I can't fly, do you see wings on my back?" he asked sardonically, shifting his shoulder a little to show his bare back.

"Some angels can hide their wings," he insisted, and Yuri wondered exactly how they knew that as Colette nodded behind them enthusiastically. "And if you don't have any wings, then how did you get up the Kharlan tree? There's no way you could have climbed it because it was only there for a couple minutes." He crossed his arms over his chest, and the two swords Yuri just realized he was carrying, swayed at his sides.

Yuri scowled as he recognized just how ridiculous his next statement was going to sound. But he didn't exactly have a more elaborative answer, so it was going to have to do.

"I," he began, then sighed, "fell on it," he muttered, grinding his teeth together. And at that, even the healer was looking at him like he had broken his head instead of his ribs.

Yuri blamed it on the fact that he was just having a really bad day, but in an instant his temper was flaring and he really wanted to hit something. He noticed, however, that the red kid was giving him a look that was quickly turning towards confused recollection, as if he was remembering something important, but was still struggling with the strangeness of it all.

The healer blinked once, twice, and then a few more times in rapid succession before she raised a brow in question, the corners of her lips twitching with poorly concealed amusement. "You fell on it?" she asked, "How ever did you manage that?"

"Not a clue," he responded blandly. Well, he knew the logistics of _how –_ he had somehow fallen off Tarqaron and the tree just happened to be where he landed, that much was obvious – but he didn't exactly know _why_ he had been falling through the air, and he thought that was probably what she was asking about_._

"But as soon as I find out, I'll make sure to get back to you." The kid in red looked ready to blurt out something else, but then the healer stalked over to him, and smacked him upside the head.

"Don't aggravate him, Lloyd. Save the questions for later. And tell Sheena I'll be with her in a minute." she ordered as she shooed both boys towards the door. Okay, so that one's Lloyd, the girl is Colette and the last one is Genis, he thought as the corner of his eye twitched in stifled amusement because that name was going to make him laugh for a good long time. He looked to the woman. Now all he needed to figure out was her name.

The last thing he heard as the three started away from the room, giving him curious looks as they did, was Colette asking Lloyd why he thought the guy was an angel. Yuri was mildly interested in the answer as well – because he had been called a lot of names in his life. And angel wasn't one of them – but the door muffled Lloyd's answer.

The woman turned and paced back towards him. He twisted around to face her as she neared the side of the bed, grimacing lightly at the aching reminder that he wasn't yet completely healed. She sat on the mattress next to him.

"Here, let me," the woman insisted, raising a hand towards his chest, a look of concentration crossing her face. Yuri shook his head, batting away her questing fingers with the back of his hand.

"Look, lady-"

"Be quiet," she cut him off, "I _will_ heal you. If you don't let me willingly, then I will knock you back into unconsciousness. Do you understand?" Yuri was taken aback, surprised at the terseness of the reply, and nodded despite himself.

The woman jerked her chin in a little nod as well, her hands hovering over his chest as she released her magic into him. Yuri closed his eyes, grumbling lightly at the still unfamiliar spell. When she was done, her breathing was running ragged and her hands were shaking. Yuri crossed his arms over his chest.

"You know that wasn't necessary, right?" He had to say, because he didn't like the fact that she had to hurt herself in order to heal him. He had had enough experience with Estelle running herself into the ground to heal people, to know that he didn't want that same attitude being applied to himself. "They were healed enough, I would have survived." She waved a dismissive hand and sat back, crossing her leg over her knee.

"Of course you would have. But ribs are fussy. And it would have been a waste of energy to heal them again completely if they managed to break a second time. Now, who are you?" She was quick to turn the conversation to him and leaned forward, resting her elbow on her knee and her chin on her palm. Yuri just shook his head. Honestly.

"Yuri Lowell," he introduced himself, and then gave her a dry look. "And you would be?" he questioned expectantly, rolling his neck and stretching his arms to ease the stiffness in his shoulders.

Healing artes were for mortal wounds and broken bones. Muscle soreness just had to be suffered through. Which Yuri thought was ridiculous – because, really, how can magic heal someone on the brink of death and not a sore neck? But he knew there wasn't anything he could do about it, so he just tilted his head in the woman's direction.

For a moment she had a slightly startled look on her face, but then a small smile curled the edges of her lips and she gave a little laugh. She glanced towards the door with an amused look on her face that Yuri took to mean she was remembering something humorous. The tension he hadn't even realized had been mounting since she had entered the room dissipated with her chuckles.

"I'm sorry. My name is Raine, Raine Sage," she held out her hand and Yuri lifted his arm to shake. "I should know better. Lloyd, the boy in red," she explained, motioning towards the door with a nod of her head in the general direction the three kids had gone. "Always says to give your own name before asking for someone else's. I apologize." Yuri shrugged.

"No problem." He paused and looked at the door for a moment before turning his attention back to Raine. "But what did he mean?" he questioned, interrupting Raine as she opened her mouth for what was likely to be a long series of questions. His arm fell back to his lap, "about sacrifice? What was he talking about?" There was a moment of silence, and then Raine sighed and slipped her hand up to her forehead, rubbing her temples in quick circles.

"It's," she began, pausing to consider her words, "a special ability Colette has. Look," she paused again and let loose another sigh – this one more aggravated than the last – and stood up with a huff. "We've had some difficulty with strangers in the past. Forgive me, but I'm leery of providing information about the members of my group with... suspicious characters such as you."

Yuri frowned, but he couldn't fault her logic. Look at the mess with Alexei. That was a prime example of what happened when freaks got their hands on knowledge that they shouldn't have. He just nodded.

"Alright, then, safe questions it is. Where am I?" Yuri asked, gesturing to the room around him casually. Raine shook her head in apparent exasperation; like she wanted him to shut up so that she could get her own answers, but knew that she should clear up his confusion before interrogating him further.

"Well, I would say in a room, but that seems a tad obvious," she replied and Yuri rolled his eyes.

"Just a tad," he drawled and she chuckled softly.

"You're in Asgard, a city near the Great Kharlan tree. You know," she paused, "the tree you fell on." He gave her a look of the _not impressed_ variety at the amusement he saw in her eyes.

"Right, Asgard. And that's where exactly?" he stopped, then looked at Raine with a peculiar look on his face. Yuri wasn't one to pour over history books for hours on end like Estelle, but he was excellent with maps and he was positive that there was no city name Asgard anywhere in Terca Lumireis. So unless Flynn had decided to spontaneously reproduce another new town on Hypionia, then his earlier conclusion that he wasn't on his world anymore, was looking pretty accurate.

"This isn't another one of Flynn's new instant-cities, is it?" he couldn't help but ask before Raine could answer him, because that seemed like something Flynn would do. And while he knew deep down that it wasn't, he couldn't stop himself from wishing that he was wrong. Because being on another world was really not appealing, especially if his resident brainiac wasn't there to discover some way back. Raine gave him an odd look.

"No," she trailed off, looking confused. "It isn't. Asgard is one of the oldest cities of Sylvarant, known for its ancient ruins and..." then she started on what Yuri assumed to be a very long history speech. He scowled, letting his head fall back against the headboard as he tuned her out. He was growing another headache. And this lady was becoming more like Estelle with every minute he spent with her.

"Sylvarant? And that is?" he asked, rolling his head to the side to look at her. Raine frowned, and he could see her confusion growing even as an affronted look passed across her face from him disrupting her lecture. She leaned forward and placed a hand on the top of his head, tilting his neck down so she could peer at his skull.

Yuri would have jerked away from her – he didn't care for people touching him without permission – but her fingers had a firm hold of his hair and he couldn't move against her without ripping off a piece of his scalp. By the way he saw her lips curl up in mirth from the corner of his eye, Yuri realized that she had probably done that on purpose.

"Sylvarant is the name of the world," she stated slowly as she released his head, obviously finding nothing that warranted attention. "Or, it was. I guess we'll probably have to think of a new one now," she murmured after a moment, more to herself than to him. Yuri puzzled over her statement for a moment before he decided he didn't want to know. There was probably a long and complicated explanation and how did he even start to ask about it?

"Great," he sighed. "The name of the world. That's just wonderful. And I take it you've never heard of Dahngrest or Zaphias, have you?" he asked in a last ditch effort of denial. They were the two largest cities in the world, who _didn't_ know of them?

"I have not," she replied and he crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his gaze away from Raine to the window. He would never admit it aloud, but a small tremor of panic was radiating from the pit of his stomach and eating away at his calm. This was bad. Very, very bad.

"Zaphias is my home town. And Dahngrest is the city of guilds," he murmured in response to her silent question, pushing down the dread relentlessly, because he wouldn't solve anything if he gave in to fear. After a moment he asked. "How crazy would you think I am if I told you I didn't think I was on my world anymore?" He watched her cock her head to the side in thought from the corner of his eye, feeling slightly apprehensive of her reaction. He knew that it was a bit quick to jump into _that_ topic, but he needed some kind of answer.

"You're from Tethe'alla, then?" He turned to her abruptly, not sure if he had heard her correctly. He didn't know what Tethe'alla was, but the fact that she hadn't started laughing was unnerving. She actually believed him? "I wasn't aware that there were any cities named Zaphias, or Dahngrest, on Tethe'alla," her tone was a slightly suspicious, and the confusion was still there. But the new curious quality of her voice was now the most prevalent.

"You mean," he began. "You believe me?" he couldn't help the incredulity in his voice. Because if someone were to come up to him and say he was from another planet, Yuri would probably think it was a trick to rob him blind, or something else equally nefarious**.** And then Yuri would probably leave the would-be thief unconscious in an alley so that he couldn't follow him home. Raine's face shifted into a frown, and the small spark of suspicion in her piercing blue eyes was suddenly full blown and wary.

"Why would I not? Are you lying?" she asked, her voice toneless, but with a sharpness of distrust that told Yuri that one wrong move and something bad was going to happen to him. He shook his head.

"No, it's just," he paused to find the words he needed. "It's just surprising that you would believe me. It's true, but I know I wouldn't think it was if I was in your position." The suspicion in her eyes dulled slightly, but she still looked wary.

"Well, I would be a hypocrite if I said I did not believe you, when I myself have travelled to other worlds," she replied.

"You have?" he asked, and Raine nodded.

"Yes, numerous times. Between the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla," she paused. "You are not from either of these worlds, are you?" Yuri shook his head slowly, his disbelief mounting. He couldn't believe that she didn't think he was crazy. _He_ thought he was crazy.

"No, my world's called Terca Lumireis. It's," he waved a hand at the sky through the window, the corners of his lips quirking up in a strained little smile, "Somewhere it that general direction." But Raine didn't smile and kept looking at him intently.

"And," she spoke slowly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, "Does this place have anything to do with Cruxis?" Her voice was soft and calm but Yuri's earlier irritation was coming back and he shook his head.

"No, it doesn't," he huffed. "Or it might. I don't know. What the hell is Cruxis is my question?" He exhaled noisily and ran his fingers through his hair in agitation, wincing slightly as his knuckles caught and pulled at tangles, and at a sticky residue that he thought must be tree sap.

It was silent for a few long moments before Raine spoke again.

"You do not know what Cruxis is?" she questioned. Yuri shook his head.

"I wouldn't have asked if I did," he replied blandly. Raine cocked her head to the side, scrutinizing him with a frown. He wondered if she believed him.

"Are you sure?" Well, there you go. Obviously she didn't.

"Positive," he grumbled, giving her a flat look.

"Well, what about your Exsphere then? It's quite unique, and considering that Cruxis is involved in all new Exsphere developments, it's hard not to be suspicious." Yuri resisted the urge to roll his eyes; this conversation was becoming more and more ridiculous, and was leaving him with more questions than answers.

"What?" He asked tiredly, because he was really starting to get confused.

"Your Exsphere, the gem is quite strange. I have never seen anything like it before." She motioned to his wrist and Yuri looked down to where his Blastia was.

"Exsphere? This isn't an Exsphere. Whatever that is. This is a..." he trailed off, and he knew, without needing a mirror, that his face must have looked horrified. "...Blastia," he finished, but he wasn't sure anymore. Because the gold Bohdi Blastia he had been wearing for the last few years was gone. He could even see the tan lines from where the band had rested. The skin where it should have been was pale, darkening in color abruptly where the edge of the ring had been.

And while he wouldn't have been concerned if it had only been missing – because that was the whole point converting the blastia into spirits; they would be destroyed along with the Adephagos.

It was the fact that the blastia was still there. Only, instead of resting in a bohdi blastia, it was imbedded in his skin, the ruby gem glinting dimly in the soft light of the room as golden, curling lines crept across the back of his hand and down to the middle of his forearm.


	3. A New Crystal

Oh my God, is this a chapter? It is! It is a chapter! And yes, I know, super fail is me. Insert excuses here. And I've decided I can't write short to save my life. Seriously. So, uh, long chapter? Please enjoy?

Chapter 3: A New Crystal

-o-

"What the hell?" Yuri murmured in bewilderment as he stared down at the gleaming gem rooted deep in his wrist.

"What the hell?" He reiterated, louder this time, because he didn't think he had conveyed his disbelief thoroughly enough. And he felt that it was important to convey how absolutely _damn confused_ he was. Also, he was going to _kill_ Rita because he just _knew_ that this was somehow her fault.

He gently twisted his wrist around, feeling mildly disgusted with the way the skin around the Blastia pinched and tightened, like his wrist was covered in tree sap that pulled uncomfortably in all the wrong places when he moved. Something hard rasped against a bone in his wrist and he immediately felt unsettled. All right, this had to go.

Quick as a flash, he had his other hand at the blastia, prying at the gem and gritting his teeth in something resembling angry panic when it refused to budge. When he managed to hook a nail under the edge of the jewel he yanked at it as hard as he could. It moved a hair but before he could pull it off completely, something walloped him upside the head, bringing stars to his eyes and a surprised bark of pain to his lips as his hand flew from his wrist to his skull.

"What the hell!"

"What are you _doing_?!" Raine yelled, voice nearing a shriek in intensity. "Stop, right now! You can't remove an exsphere without a key-crest! Stop!"

Yanking his wrist away from him, Raine levered her fist for another strike to his head, threatening action should he try anything rash. Not entirely sure what she was talking about, Yuri ignored her and tried to jerk his arm from her grasp. However, she had a surprisingly strong grip and only wrenched his wrist back.

"Let go of me," he growled.

"Stop this instant - -!"

"_Let go of me!"_

"No!"

In an instant, a vicious rage erupted through him, trampling his rising fear and replacing it with the burning fire of absolute fury. A haze of red settled over his mind and fire leached down his limbs, made his arms quiver with the volatile energy to strike out and his legs tense with the sudden urge to spring to his feet in a lunge of attack. He snarled at her, a wild, guttural sound filled with animalistic ferocity, and he barred his teeth in warning.

Raine recoiled, a distressed grimace pinching her features, and he could _smell_ the fear welling up in her, the reek of it like a bitter acid, stinging against his tongue.

Yuri tore himself out of Raine's grasp, flinging himself out of the bed and collapsing to the ground in a heap. He twisted and coiled into a loose crouch the instant he regained his equilibrium, ready to attack on the woman.

She was standing now, a long wooden staff held tight in her hands, the beginning chant of a spell primed at her lips, her knuckles white where she clutched the wood.

With the building pressure of magic buffeting his skin, Yuri skittered away from the bed, nearly leaping into an attack the instant his back touched the wall – trapped trapped _trapped_. He stiffened to spring, clawed at the ground with his fingers as he planned out the best course of action to eliminate the danger.

"Yuri!" she shouted, and he recoiled despite himself, ears ringing at the sudden blast of noise, the sound of it like the scream of rending metal as it ricocheted around the room, the echo of it battering his ears. "Calm down!"

His hands flew to his ears, trying to block out the stabbing shriek – _hurts hurts get away – _snarling on reflex when the woman stepped forward. She backed off and repeated, "Calm down," but her voice was much softer, barely a sound at all.

"Please, you need to calm down. It's your exsphere. You need to push it back into your skin. It's causing you to lose control of yourself. Look - - look at your arm."

She gestured for him to look down, but Yuri eyed her warily – _traptraptrap –_ remaining motionless. When she tried to step forward again, floor creaking loudly as she moved around the end of the bed –_better accuracy for spells attack before she casts go for the throat –_ he barred his teeth again and growled in warning, eyes flicking to around the room looking for an escape and landing on the - -

Stairs. Window. Door. There was a door. Get to the door. Get to the door and run – _no attackattackattack_. His eyes danced back to the enemy, and then to the door, judging the distance between, and he knew he was faster, he could get there first.

"Please, you need to listen to me. You need to push your exsphere back in or something terrible is going to happen."

She was... frightened, her eyes wide as she glanced at the door and then back to him – _she knows she'll try to stop you attack Attack ATTACK –_ and Yuri frowned, a small part of him almost convinced that he should look down. Raine held up her arms in supplication.

"Yuri, please, just look."

He wavered, eyes flicking down just a little, but then there was a movement to his side, the door jerking open and revealing a woman in purple – _blocking the door attack her – _with bandages around her head. "Raine -,"

And he burst into motion, darting between the two startled dangers and throwing himself at the window, curling his arms over his face as the glass shattered, and tucking into a loose ball as he flew through the air. Hitting the ground, he went loose and let his weight carry him into a roll, using the momentum to send him to his feet and then into a sprint, ignoring the startled faces around him and the sharp, "_No!"_ that followed him.

He had to get away.

-o-

Raine was never one for swearing. It was vulgar and unnecessary, and any educated mind could find a more intelligent way of expressing displeasure than common expletives. But as she watched Yuri fly down the road, dark hair billowing out behind him and the even darker mark of mutation creeping up his arm, she had the inexplicable urge to scream deafening profanities.

"What's going on?" Sheena cried in surprise. Raine spun to her.

"Follow him."

"What?"

"Just follow him, I'll explain later."

"Raine - -,"

Raine wanted to throttle her for not just listening. "His exsphere is destabilizing." Sheena's eyes went wide. "It isn't out of his skin completely, but he'll turn into a monster if it isn't pushed back in soon. Follow him and keep him in the city. Try and subdue him if you can. I'll get the others. _Go!"_ and Sheena was out the window in a flash, ninja speed making her a blur as she raced after Yuri.

Raine darted for the door, running past confused patrons poking their heads out their doors, and racing down the stairs. She hadn't even reached the landing before Kratos was in front of her, crimson eyes intense as he stared at her. She didn't let him open his mouth, only ran past him to the entrance of the inn, knowing he would follow her.

"He tried to remove his exsphere," she explained as they burst through the doors.

"This is exactly why - -," Kratos started with a growl, and Raine cut him off, rolling of her eyes.

"You can tell me you told me so later, but it's not too late to stop the mutation, and Sheena's already following him. You go on ahead and I'll - - Lloyd!" she yelled, skidding to a halt, not bothering to check if Kratos had continued on.

"Professor?" Lloyd asked, turning from where he, Genis and Colette were examining the scattered shards of broken glass from the window.

"Where are the others?" She asked hurriedly. Lloyd glanced back at the inn, then to her.

"I think Presea and Regal are inside, I don't know where Zelos is, but I saw Sheena running away from the inn a minute ago." Raine nodded.

"What's going on Raine?" Genis asked. Raine glanced at him.

"I'll tell you later. Lloyd, you'll follow me. Colette, fly after Kratos, I need you to find the man you met earlier and keep track of him." Colette nodded, bright wings bursting into existence. "Genis, run and get Presea and Regal. We probably won't need their help but better safe than sorry. C'mon Lloyd."

She turned and took off down the road, Lloyd beside her as Colette's shadow zipped over them.

For all the head start Yuri'd had when he'd jumped from the window, he hadn't gotten nearly as far as Raine had assumed. But then, pitted against Sheena's speed and Kratos' persistence, not many would.

"Wow," Lloyd said as they neared where Sheena and Kratos were trying to keep Yuri from gaining further progress through the city, and Raine couldn't say she didn't feel the same.

They were all used to the complexity of Sheena's acrobatics, had been for a while, but the way Yuri twisted and evaded Kratos' attacks, or flipped and rolled out from under Sheena's Seals, was distinctly... different, much more sinuous than Sheena's elegant spins. Part of it may have been the influence of his exsphere, but it looked far to practiced to be just a side-effect.

Sheena flipped over Yuri's head, flinging her arms out and letting fly two waves of seals that Yuri threw himself to the side to avoid. He rolled into a one handed back flip to dodge the sword Kratos swung at him, and then snarled in pain when three of Sheena's cards cut long, neat lines through the fabric of his pants and into his calf.

Raine summoned her staff when they were near enough, immediately casting Field Barrier on Sheena, Lloyd and Kratos – just in case – and gritting her teeth at the black mutation spreading up Yuri's arm. She didn't know why it wasn't changing Yuri all at once, but she did know that they didn't have much time. And she wasn't about to let another person become an Alicia or a Marble.

Lloyd flew into the fray, and Raine could only yell a quick, "Wear him down, and don't kill him! It's the exsphere!" before Lloyd slammed into Yuri's side. They tumbled down the main stairs of the city, Lloyd trying to pin Yuri and Yuri snarling up a storm. Sheena raced after them, throwing half a dozen Serpent Seals to try and slow Yuri down. Two connected, one to Yuri's back, another to his arm, and in the brief moment of confusion where Yuri tried to tear them off and wrestle away from Lloyd, Sheena had two Mirage Seals plastered over his eyes.

Yuri howled in rage, managing to plant his feet on Lloyd's stomach to hurl him away, sending him flying and - -

"Hey!"

That was Lloyd, and a fierce wave of cold blew through Raine when she saw what was in Yuri's hand as he rolled to his feet, long and glinting wickedly in the sunlight. Somehow, Yuri had managed to gain possession of one of Lloyd's swords, and the way his hand flexed around the hilt, weighing the weapon as he ripped the Seals from his eyes and jerked into a stance ready for attack, told her that he definitely knew how to use it.

Kratos swooped in and brought his weapon down with enough force to split a boulder, which made it all the more surprising when Yuri didn't even budge when they collided, the impact a crash of thunder. But then again, Raine gritted her teeth, Exbelua were outrageously strong.

They sprang apart, circled each other then crashed back together, swords singing through the air, the rapid staccato of clashing blades tearing up the noonday calm. Kratos pressed forward into an attack, swiping at Yuri's side, and she could tell he was trying to injure, not kill, or else he would have gone for Yuri's gut, or his neck.

He reversed his grip on his sword to twist into a defensive crouch when Yuri spun away from the assault and swung his stolen weapon down, and Raine summoned her magic immediately.

"_Light! Photon_!" She cried, and Kratos dove out of the way as a brilliant sphere of light erupted in front of Yuri, blinding him and sending him flying into a market stall, rich fabrics and delicate jewellery scattering across the ground.

They didn't even have time to organize themselves before Yuri bolted from the wreckage, teeth barred in a snarl as he stared them down, pupils completely engulfing the greys of his furious eyes, looking half wild as his gaze danced from her to Sheena to Kratos to Lloyd and then back over his shoulder. Raine blanched, they were on the wrong side of him.

"Yuri, wait - -!" she started, but he'd already spun and taken off straight towards the entrance of town. Kratos muttered something unpleasant under his breath, and Lloyd exclaimed "Damn it!" as they started after him, Sheena close behind flinging seals as fast as she could.

They'd exited the city and were out in the main fields when Colette cried, _"__Angel Feathers!" _and rained down rings of light in front of Yuri. He skidded to a halt to avoid them as they crashed into the ground.

"Nice one, Colette!" Lloyd yelled, at the same time Sheena flung out a handful of Gaurdian Seals and created a barrier perpendicular to the line of feathers. Yuri collided into it when he attempted to dodge around the remnants of Colette's attack, and that was a... surprisingly ingenious use of a defensive ability.

Raine made a mental note to congratulate Sheena as she cast out another Photon. It burst into existence just as Colette's feathers died away and Yuri flinched away from the light, body swinging to the side not yet blocked, and then jerking back when his path was intersected by Lloyd's Demon Fang, the wave of blue energy scything through the grass at his feet. Kratos called forth an unrestricted Grave, surrounding Yuri in semi-circle of granite spears, and then he had nowhere else to go.

With his exits blocked, Yuri turned on them, crouching low and growling like a wolf, baring Lloyd's sword and backing up as far as he could against the stone spikes. Blood was dripping down his sides and arms, thin cuts crisscrossing his flesh. Sheena must have been lucky with her attacks as they were running through the city. He didn't seem to even notice them, however, and only watched them with a kind of hatred reserved for a prey about to die at the claws of a predator.

Raine strode forward until she stood beside Sheena in the loose line she, Kratos and Lloyd had made at the end of the half circle of stone spires, eyes pinned to the spreading taint creeping up Yuri's arm to his shoulder. Now that she was closer, she could see that it wasn't the waxy, dark-green hide she'd seen on other Exbelua. In fact, it looked more like his arms had been caught in a fire, the flesh about the exsphere black and charred, like coal.

"What's happening to him?" Lloyd asked warily, sword still in hand, knowing this wasn't the same thing that had happened before. Colette landed beside Lloyd, chakrams held tightly in her hands.

"Is he okay?" she asked, voice tiny and strained, and Raine shook her head.

"I don't know. I'm not too sure if what he's carrying is even an exsphere." She could see Kratos give her a sharp glance from the corner of her eye, but she kept her gaze firmly on Yuri. "He called it something else before he saw it. And when he did, he panicked and tried to remove it. I think we can assume that it wasn't in his skin before he came here. Yuri!" She called out, shifting uneasily when his frenzied eyes stopped their darting search for an escape and zeroed in on her.

She took a step forward, trying to think of some way to calm him down. He growled at her, tensing to attack.

And then a curious thing happened. He stopped, went completely still, like he'd been Petrified. He only moved his eyes, and they flickered around his stone prison, then to his weapon, then retreating inward, brows pinching together like he was remembering something important.

"What's he doing?" Sheena asked under her breath, tensing and flicking more cards to her fingers as Raine frowned and stepped back.

"I'm not - - Look out!" Raine managed to yell as Yuri abruptly threw himself into the air, throwing up a Force Field a second before Yuri twisted around and slammed Lloyd's sword into the ground, a massive explosion erupting out from under his blade and radiating out in circle of destruction, eradicating the spears of Kratos' spell and battering against five hastily thrown shields.

Raine only had a moment to marvel at the power of the attack, the brilliant flare of colour that buffeted against her guard, before a crack split its way down her Force Field, shattering the green expanse of energy in a blaze of power and throwing her back through the air. She hit the ground hard, air bursting from her lungs as she rolled across the grass, pain spiking up through her when her head hit a rock.

And she wasn't the only one. When she got her spinning mind under control, she saw that both Sheena and Lloyd had been thrown back to the ground as well, with Colette tumbling through the air, wings fluttering double-time trying to keep her afloat, and Kratos just managing to stay on his feet. Pulling herself up onto her elbows, Raine grimaced as she looked out over the charred circle of grass.

Yuri was gone.

-o-

What was going on?

Yuri didn't understand. He was in... pain? Why was he bleeding? _Was_ he bleeding? Everything was red. Or was it? He was seeing red. But there were trees. Why were the trees red? _Were_ the trees red?

Where _was_ he?

It was... confusing. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't think _curvy_. Everything was... huh? Trees? Why was he in the forest?

Why was he angry?

He shouldn't be angry. Or should he? What had happened to make him angry? He didn't... know. He couldn't... remember? That wasn't good. Or was it? Why was he running? He didn't usually like running for exercise. He preferred sparring. He thought. Maybe?

Whose sword was this?

Wasn't his. His sword was... not this one. He was pretty sure. It was lighter than he was used to. Yes. No. Maybe? Why was it in his right hand? He fought with his left. Mostly. Had he gotten in a fight? Was that why everything hurt? Where was his shirt? That was his favourite shirt.

How'd he get so cut up?

Everything was blurry. But that was because he was running fast. Very fast. He'd never run this fast before. Trees? Shouldn't he be in a city? Where was he? What was that? Monst - -

__

What?

His head hurt. Like something was inside it. Like something was rooting around and making a mess of things. Hurt, his head hurt. Huh? Was that a monster?

_KILLKILLKILLKILLKILL_

Well, okay. He slammed into the monster, stabbed it with his – _nothis –_ sword. It went down, everything went red. Wasn't everything already red? What? Why was he in the forest?

Damn, everything was blurry. Couldn't see straight. Why did everything hurt? Why was he so cut up? Did the monster get him? Damn monster. Huh?

What was going on?

He couldn't remember. Had he thought that already? Yes. No. Maybe? He was confused. Was he running from something? Had he gotten in a fight? Wait. It was the monster. Or was it?

Something was in his head.

He could feel it. Get out! Getoutgetoutgetout! What? Where was he? Why did his head hurt? He didn't like this. Or did he? What didn't he like? He couldn't remember.

Nothing made sense.

He was still running. Where was he running to? Was he running away from something? Was he running from _someone_? He hoped not. He couldn't think enough to fight back. Fight back against what? Was he fighting something?

_Go back get them attackattackattack killkillkill_

What? Shut up. He was trying to think. About what? About running. He was thinking about running. Why? He didn't know, but - -

And then the world around him abruptly leapt into focus, a furious wave of agony hurdling up through him and toppling him to the forest floor, rationality returning suddenly, the clarity of his thoughts turning everything sharp and vivid and - -

_Why was he hurting? _

He cried out as a sharp stab of fire shot up under his ribs, squeezing around his heart, and he curled up and rolled to the side, trying to get away from whatever was attacking him. But no matter how far he rolled, the pain wouldn't let up.

There was nothing to roll away from.

He grappled at his side, tried to find a wound, tried to find something to pull out that would make the pain stop. And then he went very still.

The pain made him want to writhe, but he was paralysed where his questing fingers touched hard, ragged rock. Just above his heart. That couldn't be right. With disbelieving eyes he curled his head down, forcing away his panic and trying to ignore the pain. And then he could _feel_ the blood draining from his face.

Because the skin of his entire arm was charred and black, looking like a piece of wood that'd been caught in the crosshairs of one of Rita's fire spells, and it was... _expanding_, creeping across his shoulder and chest as if the swelling darkness had a life of its own.

The black tendrils looked eerily reminiscent to the tentacles of the Adephagos, and the jagged cracks that split his flesh made him want to gag. He thought it should have hurt – and it did, it was sharp, brutal agony where it touched the skin above his heart – but all he felt across his arm was a slick numbness, like cold, sticky oil had been dripped over his limb and was steadily trickling down his body.

What was - - how - - he didn't - - _what the hell?_ He started shaking, and the pain overtook him again, condensing everything in his field of vision to a single point of blurriness. He writhed, arched his back as he cried out, gritted his teeth and choked on his breath, and why wasn't he going unconscious? He wanted to go unconscious, wanted the pain to stop Stop _STOP!_

He desperately tried to think of a reason for why this was happening, tried to think of a way to stop the spread of dark rock. Was it a spell? Poison? Disease? What was it? He threw himself through his mind for an answer.

"..._push... back in..."_

What? What was that? A thought? A memory?

"_..Please... just look..."_

It was Raine's voice, he realized fuzzily, but what was she talking about? Where was she? He twisted around, looked for her, but his eyes wouldn't work. She was a healer; she could make the pain stop. Help.

"..._your exsphere..._"

What was she talking about? Why wasn't she helping? Exsphere? What was that? He didn't know. But why did it sound familiar?

Wait - - his _blastia!_ She called his blastia an exsphere! Right? When had that happened? He didn't know, couldn't remember. But she'd said it. He was sure of it. He forced his trembling limbs to still, and another stab of pain pierced his heart, making him grit his teeth to stop from crying out. It was a monumental task to roll onto his stomach and make his eyes focus on his arm, and he almost gave up half way, the pain completely encompassing his thoughts and distracting him from what he was trying to do.

Taking three deep, piercing breaths, Yuri threw his good hand out and groped around for his other wrist, watering eyes blurring everything as he latched onto the dark, stone mess that was his arm. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision, and just managed to focus on the gleaming red gem rooted in his wrist, one half breaching his rock-skin. He reached for it, fingers pressing at it weakly, slipping off the smooth facets, and then something very wrong happened.

Something started shrieking in his head, and it wasn't just his thoughts screaming in response to the pain. It was a different voice entirely, and it was... evil. Dark and malicious, and the sound of it just made everything hurt more, the pain intensifying until there was nothing he could comprehend besides the overwhelming agony tearing him apart. He howled into the ground, choking on his breath in the next instant and fighting desperately for air when his lungs seized up.

And the screaming kept ringing inside him, wordless and infuriated, tearing him apart, trying to get him to forget himself, forget what he was doing, and it almost worked. Because no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't breathe, couldn't force his limbs to work, was completely paralyzed and knew it was only a matter of time before he lost against it.

And for a moment the screaming voice turned smug, like it knew he was weakening and - - no. Just, no. He wasn't going to give up. Not without fighting.

_Get out of my head!_

With the edges of his vision darkening, the lack of air stealing the strength from his arms, Yuri summoned up all the desperate force he could manage and made one final move, because he wasn't giving in. Not a chance. That wasn't what he did.

He slammed his fist into his wrist as hard as he could, hysteria giving life to his arm and all he heard was a soft _click_ as the gem snapped back into place.

The screaming swelled until it was an intense, raging shriek, everything going completely blank as it reached a pinnacle of fury, and Yuri didn't know what to do, didn't know why it wasn't going away. He curled up into ball, keening into his arm as he was buffeted by the onslaught of agony.

Stop, please, just stop.

And then, miraculously, everything ceased. The screaming. The pain. Everything. Gone in the space of a heartbeat, and he went limp in relief, sobbing as residual tremors wracked his body and as he gasped for breath. He lay there for a long time, face in the dirt, hands weakly curled into fists, just trying to keep himself together. That had been...that was... shit, he never wanted to do that again.

What was happening to him?

When he finally managed to get his breathing under control, he pulled his head from where it was pressed into the crook of his elbow and glanced over at his other arm, half tensing at the dark markings slowly pulling back to the red gem in his wrist, watching in mild disgust as the ragged cracks in his skin knitted back together, breathing a sigh of relief as seared flesh lightened and then disappeared entirely.

He turned his head back into his elbow. That must've been the most terrifying thing that'd ever happened to him. He couldn't - - there had been something in his _head._ It'd wanted... he didn't know what it had wanted. His death, probably. Control of his body? It really didn't like him pushing his blastia back into his wrist - -

Oh, wait. Shit.

Memories surged to the front of his mind, and he watched helplessly as he leaped out of the inn window, ran thorough the town and attacked Raine and her partners when they'd tried to stop him. And what was with that Destruction Field he'd performed? It'd never been that powerful before, never that... big. Damn it, was he losing control of his artes as well as his mind?

He shuddered, pressing his eyes closed, feeling overwhelmed, body and mind completely wrung out and in shock. Maybe he'd just pass out for a bit.

Everything went dark.

-o-

By nightfall, almost everyone was back at the inn, and no one had caught sight of Yuri. The only three still searching were Lloyd, Sheena and Kratos, who Raine had had start searching the forest before the others had arrived to help. Colette had flown over the roads leading to Luin and the House of Salvation. She hadn't caught sight of him, thankfully, which meant he probably wasn't heading towards civilization.

She'd sent Zelos to check the mountains, and had gone with Regal, Presea and Genis to help with the search in the forest. She hoped that Lloyd's group had had more success, because they hadn't been able to find much of anything.

"So he _didn't_ know what an exsphere was?" Regal asked, turning to look at her over his shoulder as he absently added a few different spices to the stew he was making. Raine took a brief moment to wonder how he possibly knew which flavouring to add, and then another to be somewhat... jealous of his culinary aptitude, before she answered.

"No, he didn't recognize the name. But when I pointed out that he had one, he said that it wasn't an exsphere. He called it a... blastia, and when he saw that it was in his skin he seemed very bewildered. I believe that he had it to begin with, and that whatever power sent him here fused it to his arm."

Zelos made a disbelieving noise, and Raine turned to him with raised eyebrows.

"Do you have something to add, Zelos?"

He shrugged. "Okay, I know that we do a bunch of world hopping and everything, but it seems kind of unreal that this guy came from a completely different planet entirely. I mean, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were pretty much occupying the same space when they were separate. There wasn't much, you know, real distance between them. And yet look how much power it took to travel between them. I was kinda wondering if the Rheairds were gonna give out on us at the end, actually."

He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms behind his head as he continued. "All I'm saying is that we had technology to get us from one world to another. This guy just fell on the Kharlan Tree. It just seems kinda unlikely, you know?"

"I disagree," Regal offered. "While it does seem doubtful, neither you nor Kratos recognize him as being a member of Cruxis. So that begs the question of where he acquired his exsphere. Judging from that technique he preformed outside the city, it's much more powerful than normal, and yet we haven't come across any records of something that powerful having been created. Considering how thoroughly Cruxis monitored any business regarding exsphere creation, it seems unlikely that they would have no knowledge of this man's exsphere."

"His crossing over to our world appears to be the simplest explanation," Presea said.

"They did know about the Angelus project, even though Kvar didn't want them too," Genis added. "And there was a ton of energy around the Kharlan Tree when it sprouted. Maybe something really big happened on this guy's planet and it sent him here because of the energy the Tree was releasing, like lightning to a lightning rod."

Zelos shrugged, "I guess, seems pretty weird though."

Raine nodded, "Nevertheless, we won't know the specifics until we find him. Hopefully, Lloyd will be back with good - -,"

She was interrupted when the kitchen lit up, the entire room becoming blindingly white for all of a moment before it died down, and Colette let out a surprised squeak as she looked out the window. Raine frowned and crossed the room to join her, Genis and Presea behind her as she looked out to see a radiant ball of light streaking across the sky. What in the world?

"That's the same light that happened when Yuri fell into the Kharlan tree!" Colette exclaimed, pointing excitedly, though she blinked and looked confused a moment later. "But it wasn't that big, or that bright. I wonder why?"

Raine didn't know, but when it split apart into five different comets, fanning out and streaking across the sky, she knew it was imperative they find out.

-o-

There was something snuffling beside his ear, and it was... familiar, kind of. There was a low whine.

"Repede, go 'way," Yuri grunted, and he didn't even have enough strength to swat Repede's cold nose away from his neck. "Five more minutes, I promise." He pressed his face more fully into the dirt, curling his arm around his face.

Wait a sec, since when did he sleep in the dirt? He groaned and forced himself to roll onto his back, dozens of little cuts protesting up and down his sides as his movements pulled at messily clotted scabs. Lovely.

It took him a moment to remember how to open his eyes, then another to actually do it, and when he finally managed to peel back his sore eyelids, he came face to face with a long white muzzle, big eyes and a tuft of green fur between huge ears. It whined at him helplessly. Was that a dog?

"You aren't Repede," he muttered lifting his hand to pat the long muzzle. The dog-creature yipped at him, pushed into his hand for a scratch, before it turned and loped away. Yuri took a moment to hope that it wasn't a monster going to get reinforcements before his eyelids sagged. He didn't know where that sword he'd had went.

Something lit up the night sky, disrupting the darkness, and Yuri watched tiredly as a great white light burst apart in the sky above him, five little rays shooting off in different directions, and that looked kind of familiar. Hmm. Where had he seen that before?

Oh well, he'd think about it in the morning. The last thing he heard before he drifted off was the sharp cry of, "He's over here!" before he settled back into unconsciousness.


	4. Light in the Sky

Thanks so much for the reviews! Alrighty, chapter four here we come.

Warnings: Um… magical theory that I'm pulling out of nowhere? I like pretending that I know what I'm talking about…and Rita likes to be a smarty pants. Oh wait, if anyone is interested, the symbols Rita talks about are just my (strange) interpretation of the Over Limit crests from the game. Plus, I got tired of looking at this. My beta disappeared on me about a month ago so any mistakes are totally my own.

Also, I'm starting to realize just how unpleasant controlling eighteen odd central characters is going to be. Anyone have some suggestions for character interactions? You know, like 'skits,' but not. I can't promise I'll be able to do all of them, and I won't do anything with heavy romance (flirting is fine), but I'd love to hear some ideas. Thanks! And Enjoy.

-o-

She was going to _kill_ Yuri when she got her hands on him, Rita decided, because his pathological need to make her life difficult was getting on her nerves.

"This formula is unstable!"

Actually, Rita thought with acute and burning frustration bordering on homicidal rage, she was going to kill Yuri _after_ she killed Witcher, just as soon as there weren't any witnesses. Then she would launch the little brat off the highest tower of Zaphias castle and enjoy the show.

Coincidently, that was exactly where they were, on the same platform where they'd been forced to battle Estelle when she'd been under Alexei's control, and while Witcher was standing squarely between Flynn and Raven, in the middle of the path back to the palace, it wouldn't be too hard to toss him off the edge to his doom. He was small – even if his giant head gave him his own gravitational field. It would only take one well placed kick and then they'd all realize why it was important not to annoy with her while she was working.

Already regretting not doing this somewhere else, she straightened out of her crouch over her spell circle and placed her paint brush back in its bucket, eyes flicking over the five other people and one dog standing at the edges of her formula before spearing Witcher with a look and growling, "It is not," through gritted teeth.

"Yes, it is," Witcher protested immediately. "You haven't balanced the equation at all, and have you actually looked at the power output? _You're going to blow up the palace_."

Rita bristled. "_Excuse me?_ Are you _blind? _Of course I've balanced the equation. What formula are you looking at?" She crossed her arms. "I know advanced magic is difficult for you, but you don't need to superimpose your shortcomings on others." She glanced down at her spell as Witcher stiffened in outrage and cried, "_Shortcomings_?" in a shrieking wail.

It was a masterpiece, is she said so herself; probably the most complicated formula she'd ever come up with. There were five circles: the core function with four smaller equations running tangent to it at its axes. Each secondary circle was stylized with dozens of curling current lines lacing them to each other and to the storage and amplifier symbols that ringed the innermost Strihm crest of the central function; inverted to pull in instead of sending out.

She'd created it over the course of two sleepless days – and she deserved an award for how fast she developed it, thank you very much – when they finally realized that no, Yuri had _not_ gone and blown himself up to take out the Adephagos, he'd only been _sent away_ to some far distant place instead. This spell was meant to summon him back, and she wasn't about to let some half-pint wannabe-mage ruin their plans.

It was an inconvenient fact that the blastia tower in Zaphias was one of the few places that had enough residual aer saturation to maintain the spell without inducing a severe aer output from the Aer Krene, or she'd have bypassed the city entirely. For the exact reason that was making her want to commit murder; the little fuzz ball with the inferiority complex.

Unfortunately, using the aer in Halure would have harmed the great tree, and no matter how hard she argued, the Union wouldn't let her test her spell within Dahngrest's walls; which she would have said was an affront to her genius if anyone asked – no one did – because it wasn't like her spell would have put the city in danger. She hadn't even bothered to petition Nordopolica, having expected the same response.

Which left Nor and Torim, the ruins of Aspio, Mantaic, Heliord, or Tarqaron. The harbor cities didn't have enough localized aer for her plans, was too spread out between the two cities, and Aspio was a dead end – literally. All the collected aer in Aspio had either dissipated to natural levels when the city had been destroyed, or had been consumed to raise Tarqaron. She wouldn't go to Mantaic on principle – was too damn hot to do anything – and Heliord was too new as a city to have the aer saturation she needed.

And no one was willing to let her conduct experiments in or around Tarqaron because, for some reason, they thought she'd accidently restart the formula to drain the life from the world's populace. Which was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard, of course, because she would _never_ be that stupid. But apparently fear was more convincing than logic. Go figure.

"You're forgetting that mana is more stable than aer," she decided with a sniff. "The same calculations needed to balance aer equations don't apply to this, and even if it did become unbalanced, which it won't, the Rockra safety construction would dissipate any excess power. Meaning no explosion. And you'd know that if you actually _looked_ at it, instead of deciding that you know what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes, which was apparently all that was needed to set Witcher off. "You, you, you - -" She didn't get to find out what she was before he switched his train of thought and continued with, "That construction is barely strong enough to hold the center formula. You have four extra circles to deal with, and they're all as unstable as the center equation. The amount of magic you're trying to summon with this formula is dangerous, and you're insane for trying this," he cried, the vehemence in his voice actually bordering on startling.

Rita watched him for a moment, bewildered. What was with this kid?

"What are you talking about?" She asked in disgust. "The others circles don't even collect power. Any energy they create is sent through the formula and then transferred to the central function." She pointed to one of the circles, tracing the lines of current in the air. "Which is protected by Rockra; so again - - _no explosion."_

"Oh?" Witcher snapped. "And what happens when the Rockra rings dissolve? Even if there isn't any explosion, anything caught in the circle is going to be consumed by the power."

"Rita," Estelle murmured, and out of the corner of her eye, Rita could see Estelle's face scrunching anxiously. While the immediate urge to ease Estelle's dislike of confrontation was strong, the need to deflating Witcher's obnoxiously large ego was stronger.

Rita snarled. "Where did you learn your magical theory, under a rock? First of all, do you know how much power it would take to break the geometric stability of three concentric Rockra circles? We're talking about hundreds of delineated fortification loops. Let me put it into perspective, the Tarqaron life-draining spell only had two, and look at how powerful that was. Secondly, do you see Sandor or Fleck? No, no you don't. This isn't an offensive spell. No one is getting consumed, you idiot."

"I see plenty of Chrocs and Kaon. What do you call those; _harmless little energy vesicles_?"

"No, I call those_ non-offensive_ _power amplifiers." _

Witcher gave a little howl of frustration, his face flushed with rage, and if his hair had been red, he'd look even more like the apple moniker Yuri had labeled him with.

Off to the side, she heard Karol whisper to Judith, "Do you understand what they're talking about?" and saw the glazed and confused sheen of his eyes when she glanced at them. Judith shrugged helplessly with a tiny smile. Rita turned back to Witcher as he opened his mouth, but he was cut off by another before he could start blustering.

"As interestin' as this l'il battle of the brains is, aren't we supposed ta be doin' somethin' important?"

Raven held up his hands and took a step back at that immediate glares Rita and Witcher shot at him for the interruption, apparently trying to fend off any bodily harm by attempting to look nonthreatening,. It didn't work since there was still a cheeky little grin on his face that Rita was going to punch off. Unfortunately, he was right, because for all they knew Yuri had landed in volcano on the brink of eruption and needed them to summon him back _right now_.

Rita crossed her arms with a huff. "_I'm_ trying to work. _Someone_ is disrupting my concentration," she sniffed pointedly.

"This _someone _is trying to keep you from killing the Commandant and Her Highness, as well as everyone else in the city," Witcher grumbled, making Rita bristle anew.

"Oh, man," Karol groaned as Rita balled her hands into fists and opened her mouth to tear Witcher a new one.

"Enough, both of you," Flynn said, sharply enough that it derailed the impending screaming row before it had a chance to properly gain momentum.

They turned to Flynn as one, and while the stony look on the Commandant's face made Rita reluctantly choke off her temper, Witcher took the interruption as an excuse to try and convince Flynn to put a stop to the whole production. Apparently he couldn't think up a logical argument and was settling for begging. Idiot. Not that she was surprised.

"Commandant, this is a terrible idea. This formula hasn't been tested at all, please reconsider letting this - -_crazy woman_." Rita rolled her eyes again, which made Witcher seethe. "Use this spell. She's too absorbed with her own genius to realize the danger she's putting everyone in."

"I'm not putting _anyone_ in danger."

"_Yes, you are!"_

Flynn held up a hand, making Witcher instantly fall silent, and Rita could almost see the thoughts running through Flynn's head: wondering if he should be letting her do this if might put Zaphias in danger, then remembering that she had been the one to come up with the idea to defeat the Adephagos, and that they'd lost Yuri once already and none of them were ready for a repeat experience.

Estelle touched Flynn's shoulder, her small hand resting on shiny steel. "Please believe Rita. She says she can do this, and I trust her," she insisted.

"Yeah, she _is_ a genius," Karol piped in.

"If ya can't trust magic from this kid, ya can't trust nothin'," Raven added.

"Rita's figured out enough impossible spells that this one must have been easy," Judith agreed, and Rita was… irrationally pleased with their words, even if Raven was going to hurt for that 'kid' comment. Flynn looked from each face, and then back to her, consternation pulling at the corners of his mouth and furrowing his brow.

"Are you positive this spell is safe, Miss Mordio?" he asked.

Rita nodded impatiently. "Of course," she answered, trying not to sound as irritated as she actually was. "Like I said, this isn't an offensive spell. Think of it like a healing formula or an augmentation equation. You can overload either and all they'll do is dissolve. This is the same concept. The only reason for the sheer amount of power is because this spell summons a specific object, and the energy needed is proportional to the distance between the object and the circle. If the spell becomes unbalanced then it'll dissipate, simple as that."

Flynn took a deep breath and crossed his arms as he took a deep breath and nodded. "Then please continue."

"Commandant - -"

"Witcher," Flynn interrupted, face taut with carefully suppressed frustration, giving the young mage a pointed look that said, at least to her, that he didn't want any further interruptions. Witcher threw his arms up in disbelief with a muted howl, but fell silent nonetheless. Flynn looked back to her. "If you would."

Rita couldn't suppress the victorious smile that spread across her face – not that she was trying hard – and returned to her circle, bending over to finish the last parts of her formula with a neat swish of her brush. The paint she was using was a mixture of ink, powdered blastium ore and Rare Metal filings, meant to help amplify the conductivity of both the mana and the initial spark of aer the formula required so she could wrestle her magic into some kind of enchantment despite her lack of blastia.

Casting a final look over her circle to check the lines of power and touch up any symbols that didn't look _perfect_, she paced to the edge and placed her paint and brush off to the side before she turned to the others. "Okay, Karol, stand there with Judith." She pointed to the secondary circle on the east side of the formula. When they just stood there like idiots she added, "Well, hurry up."

"Why?" Karol asked, blinking in confusion, almost sounding worried. Rita scowled, so much for the vote of confidence.

"The spell requires anchoring points - - _live _anchoring points." Rita gave him an arch look. "To work - - just stand there."

"Uh, okay," he said, still not sounding convinced as he and Judith walked over to take their positions on the circle she'd indicated.

"This is interesting," Judith commented, looking over Rita's spell. "And very pretty."

Rita nodded. "Yeah, I know. Old Man, stand there with the mutt." She pointed at the west circle, and then pointed to the north circle. "And you stand there, Commandant."

She didn't have to be looking at Witcher to see him stiffen, nor was she surprised when he burst out with a shrill, "_What!?_" as Flynn blinked in surprise, moving to follow her directions despite his confusion, which she thought meant that Flynn probably hadn't expected to be needed for anything besides granting his permission.

"Commandant!" Witcher protested shrilly, and Rita would have punted her paint bucket at his face if the resulting spatter wouldn't have messed up the lines of her spell. Geez, he needed to grow a set and get rid of that voice. "Commandant, this is - - this is _ludicrous_. Sir, _sir_ - -"

"Is there a particular reason for the arrangement of the anchors?" Flynn asked as he took his position, looking over the spell and cutting Witcher off. Rita smiled despite herself, partly from the outraged look on Witcher's face and partly because at least _someone_ knew something about magic.

"Yes," she answered as she pointed for Estelle to take the south circle, feeling smug as Witcher gave a little yelp of frustration and stormed off down the path to the castle, and then irritated when she realized that he was probably going to get that irritant of a second-in-command to try and change Flynn's mind. Rita didn't know why Miss I'm-An-Annoying-Pain wasn't here now, but she wasn't about to question it, or waste time for that matter.

"The anchors need to be approximately balanced based on the individuals' magical potential. You and Estelle have the strongest magic besides me, and you four," she continued as she motioned to the others. "Are relatively equal when you're magical potentials are combined. Judith is a Krityan, and has a natural affinity to magic. She balances out the Old Man, who actually uses magic. Karol and the mutt balance each other out because they're both completely useless at it."

"Hey!" Karol protested. Rita rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, I mean 'pretty much' not 'completely,'" Rita amended blandly as she walked over to Estelle.

"Like that's any better," Karol grumbled. Rita ignored him.

"Sword, please," she asked Estelle, holding out her hand.

"Oh, yes," Estelle murmured as she placed the sword she'd been clinging to on Rita's outstretched palm.

Yuri's sword was heavy in Rita's hand, heavier than she had been expecting, and she almost dropped it as the tip of the weapon sank to the ground and unbalanced the grip she had on the hilt before she compensated for its mass. The long ribbon of the blade gleamed red in the light of dusk, and she swallowed briefly as a little niggling of apprehension picked its way through her gut.

Questions like 'what if this doesn't work?' or 'what if I've done something wrong?' sprang up in her mind as she considered the sword. She'd been careful not to think about it while developing her spell, but this wasn't just a simple case of Yuri going missing. Well, it was, but it wasn't like last time. Last time he'd just been taken to another part of this world. But this time he was actually gone, had been completely removed from Terca Lumireis, the only evidence that he hadn't been destroyed was this same sword that had fallen back to Tarqaron after the last beams of their final attack dimmed out of existence.

She'd been able to calculate approximately how far he'd been flung based on the power of that last attack, but this was all theoretical and, as Witcher had unfortunately pointed out, mostly untested.

She'd done two simple summonings when she'd first finished the circle – one on an inanimate object and another on a monster. It had worked both times, but neither of those tests were as large as this one was going to be, and she couldn't stop the terrifying thought about what would happen if she screwed this up. What if she only summoned a _part_ of Yuri, like his arm or his leg? That would be…awful to say the least.

"You can do this Rita," Estelle said in a whisper, briefly touching Rita's shoulder and startling her out of her thoughts.

Rita glanced at her with wide eyes, abruptly wondering if the Children of the Full Moon could read minds, and then jerking her head back to the center of the circle, instantly berating herself.

"I know," she answered quickly, making sure that her voice sounded confident and dismissive even though her stomach was tying itself in knots. Estelle was right, she could do this. This was magic after all, and she couldn't call herself a professional of she didn't trust in her work. Nodding, she pushed back her anxiety and strode back to the center of the circle.

"All right," she called out, placing Yuri's sword in the middle of the formula to serve as the main anchor of the formula. Its magical essence was derived from the blood, sweat and effort Yuri'd poured over it, especially in the last few months. It was the strongest link they had to Yuri himself. She swallowed and continued.

"When I activate the spell, I need everyone to just brace themselves and let the energy flow through the formula. You four don't have to do anything," she said to Raven, Karol, Judith and Repede. "I just need you to stay there and don't move. Estelle, I need you to get the spirits to start pumping mana into the formula once I start the reaction. Can you do that?" she asked.

Estelle's gaze sank inwards, a look crossing her face that Rita'd come to associate with her communicating with the spirits. After a moment Estelle's eyes returned to her and she nodded. "Yes, I can do that," she said with a smile. Rita licked her lips and scrubbed at the corner of her eye as she fought a yawn. When this was all over, she was going to sleep for a week.

"Good. And I need you." She looked at Flynn. "To keep the flow of energy stable around the formula; you can do that, right?"

Flynn, she had to admit, had the best control over a magical formula that she'd seen outside of herself; better than most of the mages in Aspio, that was for sure. She'd seen him throw a Holy Lance in a fraction of the time it took Estelle to cast the same spell, with almost twice as much power. Rita needed that ability to make sure this formula went according to plan.

He nodded instantly. "Of course."

Rita swallowed again, beating down the case of nerves that fluttered through her stomach as she took her place just next to the sword in the center of the formula. "All right," she started, steeling herself. "All right, let's do this."

"Yeah!" Karol said enthusiastically, and Rita shot him an irritated look before she closed her eyes, dredging up every scrap of magical power she could find as she unrolled her Aspion cloth, letting the soft fabric slip across her fingers.

It was incredibly difficult to get her magical core to give up its energy without a blastia as a conduit, like trying to win a game of tug-of-rope with an Aquicia with one arm tied behind her back, but she managed to pull enough out of her body to start the reaction, and the flare of the spell was almost blinding as it leapt into existence.

"Now, Estelle!" she called out, forcing her magic through the first circle, winding it through the primary energy symbols and activating the inverted Strihm crest to begin the summoning. When the sudden blast of mana forced its way through her body, she nearly collapsed, the weight of the power almost overwhelming, as thick and heady as aer was light and volatile.

Even though it was easier to weave the mana into the circle than she had been expecting, like adding sugar to water instead of the oil to water mixture she'd been expecting, it still took all of her effort to keep her knees locked under the pressure, and she grinned fiercely when the spell flared with life, the light clean and strong and beautiful, no hint of corruption or unbalance.

Taking a deep breath she pushed her hands forward, directing the flow of power into the north circle beneath Flynn, activating the Twory function to support the flow of energy and keep the spell grounded, and then radiating outwards to stimulate the energy symbols to start producing the necessary magic.

When that circle was firmly activated, the swirling lights of power stable and contained within the margin of the equation, she pulled her hands to the side so that her arms and the cloth between her fingers, made a rigid line with her shoulders, dividing the energy and sending it flowing brightly to the sides, rushing through the east and west circles. The circles initialized simultaneously, the gentle brilliance of two Laitos equations mustering up even more power to send swirling through the spell.

Finally, she arched her back and stretched her arms behind her, letting the power flow to the final secondary circle as her Aspion cloth stretched tight over her chest, magic thrumming through the strands of silk and tingling up her arms where the fabric was clenched in her fists. The activation of the Ailus crest almost doubled the power of the spell, jumpstarting the flow of energy into a continual loop around the main function, and she heard a grunt of strain from one of the others at the increased pressure of magic.

Taking a deep breath, one filled with the fiery life of her spell, Rita drew her hands to her chest and drew the energy from the outer circles to the middle, activating the final ring of symbols that would exponentially increase the power of the spell. The four remaining crests, two Kaon and two Chrocs, were aligned at forty-five degree angles with the center Strihm, and as they burst to life, they cast a glorious glow around her that buffeted her body with an overwhelming vortex of radiance.

She took a moment to revel in the brilliance; she'd never had access to this much magic before, never in her life and it was breath taking, beyond anything she'd ever experienced. There was light and energy and _life_ roiling up through her, completely consuming her thoughts, tearing through her like a howling beast, and she marveled in the sheer magnificence of it. Part of her wanted to just stand there and let her body drink in the magic, let it flow through her until it tore her apart, reduced her to the most basic building blocks of life, but she knew she had a job to do, even if forming the words to the spell's incantation was almost impossible.

Twirling her Aspion around her head, a habit so familiar she didn't even need to watch to draw the necessary sphere of activation symbols in the air, Rita started chanting.

"O divine light, I call upon the power that yields life to this barren land. Bring forth the northern winds, the eastern fires, the western waters and the southern stones. I beseech thee, construct a path across the heavens and bring unto me that which has been lost. Bring me _Yuri Low - -_"

And then something snapped.

She stopped chanting instantly, her words choking off as her throat went dry and the blood drained from her face. She only had a second to glance down and take in the sight of the three Rockra rings splintering apart before the power of the spell reversed its flow, sending up instead of bringing down. The sound of tearing magical bonds rang through the air like a crystal bell shattering over marble as the inverted Strihm crest flipped over and her feet lifted off the ground.

"Wha - - no," she whispered, flinging her Aspion as fast as she could, trying to force the flow back in the right direction.

"_What's going on?"_

_Aer, aer - - I need aer,_ she thought desperately, reaching out with her mind, searching for any extra aer to pull into the spell and stabilize the formula, and only sparing a moment of thought to wonder where it came from when she found it – massive and powerful; felt like a blastia – before she yanked it into the spell.

"_R-Rita?!"_

She struggled to stifle the leaping, roiling magic rapidly slipping out of her control, and it almost worked; the swirling vortex of energy calming to a near manageable level, the light dying down in intensity. But as soon as she tried to direct the magic back through the formula in the correct direction, it shrieked back into existence, and her control was wrenched away in a tornado of radiance.

"_Miss Mordio?!"_

"Shut up!" she screamed, hurling her will at the spell, but it was too late. She'd created it to be powerful, and now it was working against her.

She heard Estelle scream and Karol's cry of fright, Repede's howl and Raven's yell of shock, Judith's gasp and Flynn's shout of surprise but she couldn't see them through the light of the spell, blinding in intensity, and she could only think of one thing – and it seemed that the irony was really going to kill her – before the world dissolved in a flash of light, before she was sent flying through the air coiled in thick bands of energy:

'_Damn, the little idiot was right.'_

-o-

It was fittingly ironic that after all they'd done to save the worlds from Yggdrasill, it was going to be the weather that did them in. And the volatile blizzard raging outside the window Raine paced before – extremely unusual for Asgard since it was the middle of summer – seemed intent on driving home the point that they deserved to suffer for tampering with the fabric of the worlds.

It didn't help that Yuri had yet to wake from the comatose state he'd fallen into two days before, or that there had been no word from the others since they had gone to investigate the changes to the planet's continental stage, and the strange light show Lloyd was convinced was the same phenomenon that had occurred when Yuri had fallen on the Kharlan Tree.

At least Asgard's inns were well equipped for mountain weather; someone would have had to pay had she been freezing as well as anxious.

With a disgusted sigh, Raine turned her attention away from the window to the unconscious man slumped on the bed at the back of the room – a different room since Yuri had smashed through the window in the one they'd had previously, rendering it uninhabitable because of the weather. His arms were tied to the posts as a precaution against any foreseeable consequences, and his dark hair was pleated into a neat braid that rested on his chest. Yuri's face was as pale as the pillow it rested against, and the only sign that he wasn't a corpse was the rhythmic movement of his chest.

She watched him for a moment longer before grumbling, "It would be very considerate of you to wake up soon, Mr. Lowell," and turning back to the maps and history texts she had been pouring over for the last five hours, attempting to extrapolate the most logical rearrangement of the world's land masses. It was, needless to say, a rather impossible feat considering she didn't even know if the separate continents had remained, well, separate.

For all she knew, Altamira and Mizuho had been fused together to form the world's first ninja theme park. It was unlikely, yes, but theoretically possible; if one ignored the land surrounding both cities that would have had to be displaced, and the fact that the ninja of Mizuho would sooner fling themselves from the top of Fooji Mountain than allow their secrets to be utilized for the amusement of tourists. The only definitive information they had was that Luin was now located to the west of Asgard instead of north, and that the Palmacostan continent was no longer reachable from Hakonesia Peak.

The only other aid she had managed to procure was a very crude sketch from Kratos of what he could remember of the world map four thousand years ago. It was barely more than a handful of poorly drawn circles, and Raine had already decided that his apparent 'forgetfulness' was some passive rebellion to make her life difficult. He and Lloyd seemed to share that quality and since the man had a near eidetic memory, she couldn't believe he could have just 'forgot,' no matter how long he had been alive.

She was still glaring down at the crude sketch half an hour later, and briefly considering stopping for a late lunch, when Regal and Presea stepped through the door, brushing snow from their hair and shrugging out of their jackets as they walked over to her desk. Raine turned to them, and the small knot of worry in her stomach eased just the slightest.

"How was it?"

Regal chuckled, the sound lacking any humor as he smoothed his long hair from the chaotic snarl the wind had whipped it into. While it seemed contradictory, his manacles didn't impede his grooming attempts at all.

"Not well, I'm afraid," he answered. "This blizzard has spread clear across the country and it doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon. Luin is under at least three feet of snow and the House of Salvation is full to the bursting point with migrants."

"Oh, wonderful," Raine sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If that city becomes uninhabitable after all our efforts in repairing it, I might have to let myself be eaten by a dragon." Regal smiled at that, wryly, with a twist of his mouth that said he knew exactly what she meant. "What else? Did you find any other cities?"

"Yes," Presea answered, staring down at Raine's mostly blank map. "Flanoir is here," Presea added softly as she sectioned off a rough space off the coast with her finger. "Approximately six hours northwest of Luin by Rheaird, with the Tethe'allan base oriented to the south. The Balacruf Mausoleum is still located near the peninsula from Hakonesia."

"Thank you, Presea," Raine said softly as she outlined the Flanoir continent and Sylph's island. Presea nodded and then turned to walk over to Yuri's bed to stare at his face. Raine raised an eyebrow at her, and then looked back to Regal. "Any word from the others?"

Regal shook his head, "Not much. The last I heard, Zelos was in Altamira off to the west, and Colette and Genis had found Triet somewhere to the south. We didn't hear anything from Kratos and Lloyd. Where is Sheena?"

Raine rolled her eyes. "Of course Zelos would find Altamira," she muttered as she lightly traced her pencil in the approximate shape of the countries Regal had mentioned. "And Sheena is helping the villagers with the storm. I'm surprised you didn't see her on your way in, actually. What about the… comet," she said, for lack of a better word. "Is it concurrent with what Lloyd and Colette said? Did you find any people?"

Regal cocked his head to the side and Raine followed his line of sight to Yuri's bound and unconscious form, and as the moment stretched on in silence, she began to wonder if it was bad news he was struggling to put to words.

"No one unusual was at the inn in Luin, and we couldn't find any evidence of someone falling from the sky around that area," he offered at last. "Of course, we weren't there for very long, but if someone _had_ fallen there, they either haven't made it to the city, or are dead and buried in snow."

Raine crossed her arms and sighed, bone weary. "Hopefully it won't be the latter, but if we consider the injuries that Yu- -"

"He is awake," Presea announced, making Raine stiffen and jerk her head to the side in time to see a pained smile pull at Yuri's lips. It immediately made Raine start to scowl even as a feeling of relief swelled up in her.

"Oh really," she growled, crossing the room to take her place next to Presea and folding her arms over her chest. Yuri cracked an eye and looked up at her, and even though his smile was weak, it was still impertinent.

"Hey, Raine," he croaked, attempting to shift into a more comfortable position and then stiffening when his arms failed to move. He glanced up, eyes widening and eyebrows creeping up as he tugged at the ropes. "Well," he said at last, in a tone that was much less surprised than it had a right to be. "This is interesting."

"How long have you been awake?" Raine asked, crossing her arms. Yuri glanced at her, but not before stopping on Regal and Presea with an evaluative look that was remarkably intent despite the fact that he looked like he was struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Since you said I needed to be considerate and wake up. But I drifted in and out while you were swearing at your desk."

Raine's mouth twisted in embarrassment as Regal muffled a chuckled. "I do not swear," she answered stiffly.

Yuri shrugged with a smile. "Guess it was my imagination," he agreed in a tone that could only be described as teasing.

Raine hurried on, prickling immediately. "Apparently. Now, why didn't you tell me you were awake? We have important questions for you, and you've been out for a while, we need to get some water in you."

She was quite sure she knew the answer, she just wondered if he would admit it. Had she been in his position, restrained and possibly in pain, gathering intelligence would have been her top priority; right along with planning ways of escape. It explained his, what she thought, lack of surprise at finding himself bound. He had probably been fully alert and feigning sleep for quite a while.

"Water would be great," Yuri rasped, wry smile pulling at his mouth as he evaded her question and looked up at his arms, tugging a little at his wrists in emphasis. "And I have a couple of questions myself, actually."

"For your protection as well as ours," Regal answered calmly as Raine walked to her desk and poured a glass of water from the pitcher she'd brought up with her from breakfast. Walking back to the bed, she brought the glass to Yuri's lips and tipped it gently so as not to choke him, placing one hand at the back of his skull to support his neck. His nape was slick with sweat, but his skin wasn't feverishly hot, which was comforting. There didn't seem to be any obvious aftereffects to Yuri's almost-transformation.

Raine removed her hand and stepped back once Yuri had drained the glass, nodding when Yuri rasped, "Thanks," and walking back to her desk to lean a hip against the edge. Regal continued as soon as Yuri's attention returned to him. "We would be remiss in allowing another… incident to befall Asgard after we assured the citizens they would be safe."

Yuri visibly winced at that, face paling and hands tightening into fists above his rope manacles, no doubt remembering the fighting he'd tracked through the city and the enormous crater he had blow into the field in front of Asgard. "I forgot about that," he muttered, eyes slipping closed as his tongue lashed out to wet his lip, looking back at them after a moment with his mouth curled down into a frown, eyes dark.

"Okay," he started. "Before I answer anything, who are you two?"

Regal smiled lightly. "Regal Bryant."

"Presea Combatir," Presea said quietly.

Yuri nodded. "I'm guessing you already know who I am. So, what the hell happened to me? I mean - - shit, I don't even know what I mean. I remember… I remember this darkness, and… this anger. I don't - - just tell me what happened."

"You were transforming into an Exbelua, a monster created when humans have had their exspheres removed without a key-crest," Presea answered immediately, and Raine winced a little at her matter-of-fact tone. While she admired straightforwardness, discretion was often more effective with issues such as this.

Yuri stared at Presea with wide eyes. "A monster? You're kidding, that…" He looked at the ceiling, breath coming the slightest bit faster with a real element of fear traced in the whites of his widened eyes. "That explains a surprising amount, actually. Damn, that's…" He laughed a little, somewhat wildly, and while Raine commended his ability to remain calm, she could hear the faint traces of panic on the edge of his voice. "And that was just from taking out my blastia?"

Raine frowned; there was that word again: blastia. "Yes. We call them exspheres here, though, not blastia, but I suppose it amounts to the same thing. And here, exspheres require a special talisman to regulate the mana within them because of their instability. It's called a key-crest, and removing an exsphere without one causes a backlash of mana that reacts negatively with the body. Don't you have something similar on your world?"

Yuri shook his head a little, but she had a feeling that it was more of an expression of disbelief than one of negation. "Well, we have these things called bohdi blastia, but the only thing they let us do is use the power of the blastia because they barely do anything without them. I've never heard of anyone turning into a monster because of them, but then I'm no expert so - -" he cut himself off, arms abruptly straining against the ropes binding him, eyes narrowing. "Wait, you were talking about people falling from the sky. It was that light, wasn't it? I - - I remember seeing it. Those lights were people, same as what happened with me?"

Raine nodded slowly, but it was Regal who answered. "That's what Lloyd and Colette believe. And since they were the ones who witnessed _your_ fall, we're inclined to believe them. What do you know of it?"

Yuri shook his head. "Nothing, but…" he trailed off, thinking. "… But if she figured it out..." He abruptly yanked on his restraints, curling the ropes around his wrists and grabbing the twined cord to haul himself up into a sitting position as he speared Raine with an urgent look. "You have to let me go."

Raine raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I don't think so."

Yuri scowled. "Look, I don't know exactly what that light was, but if it's what I'm thinking it is, then those are my friends out there and I'm not going to leave them out there to die while you interrogate me."

"Your friends?" Regal asked.

Yuri nodded, but when he spoke next it was through gritted teeth. "One of my friends is a genius. She probably figured out what sent me here and developed a spell to get here too. I know you don't trust me, but if I'm right then I need to be looking for them."

Raine sighed, and turned a little from the bed, thinking. She had decided a while ago that he wasn't a threat to the planet. His confusion over being here had been too real for him to be a spy on the brink of an inter-world invasion, as Kratos was somewhat given to believe. But he was dangerous nonetheless, if only because the instability of his… blastia could manifest at any given moment. She looked back. "We can't let you go - -"

"Raine - -"

"Let me finish," she snapped. "We can't let you go by yourself. Your blastia is too volatile for you to leave without some kind of protection, and you're right, I don't trust you. I'm not about to let you go without getting some answers of our own. But we are investigating, and as soon as my companions return we can discuss allowing you to travel with us for further analysis."

"That's not good enough," Yuri snarled. "They could be dying and you're wasting time - -"

"It's been two days already. If they are as seriously injured as you believe, then they are already dead. I understand that you want to search for them, but need I remind you that you have no idea where you are going and since we're in the middle of a blizzard, you won't be getting very far either."

Yuri's face darkened, and Raine could see the muscles in his jaw clenching tight enough to whiten the hinges. Presea cocked her head to the side. "The likelihood of success given the lack of knowledge of terrain and the ferocity of the weather is less than five percent," she murmured.

"We are trying," Regal added. "We are worried about this as well."

"Well congratulations for being concerned citizens," Yuri growled. "I'll be sure to get you medals."

Raine stared at him, unimpressed, and for a long moment Yuri glared back, grey eyes flashing like steel as they darted between the three of them, and then to the door and his restraints. Raine had little doubt that he wasn't attempting to figure out how to escape, and just waited until he sagged back against the headboard with a defeated sigh. "Fine," he snapped. "What do you want to know?"

"Well…" Raine started.


End file.
